PSY 105: Required 1-2 page paper

The goal of this paper is to make you familiar with the process of understanding how research is done and how to evaluate research. During the first few classes, we will be covering material on basic research methods and introducing terms such as reliability and validity, and this information should help you to better understanding these concepts. The paper is worth 4% of your final grade.

 

The paper will be evaluated based on your ability to clearly describe how the study was conducted (i.e., the Method section describes how a research question is examined) and should include a discussion of the measures used, any experimental procedures, a description of the participants, etc. You also need to evaluate the research, which means identifying its strengths and weaknesses. This critique is the most important part, and you should link your coverage of the method to the critique (i.e., spend more time explaining the parts of the method that you think are particularly strong and/or weak). Although not required, you may draw upon outside sources to strengthen your critique. For example, if you suggest that the study is faulty because the sample employed was limited to college students, then you could try to cite some research that suggests that college students respond differently than non-college students. The paper must be 1-2 pages in length (double spaced), though the reference section should not be included in the page length limit. Papers that deviate substantially from this length will be penalized heavily. The paper should include an APA style reference section where you will cite the paper you are reviewing and any other outside sources you use. The reference section of your textbook is in APA style. More information on APA style references is found below.

 

More information on APA Style Reference for an Empirical Journal Article:

All references should be prepared in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for style. If you do not have a copy (the library has one) here are some key points.

- If you have multiple references, they should be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the paper.

- Reference should include the author's last name followed by initials, year (in parentheses), paper title, journal title in italics, volume number in italics, and page numbers,

e.g.

Singh, N. N. (1980). The effects of facial screening on infant self-injury. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 131-134.

 

The first task is to read the research paper:  A study examining the "freshman 15!"

Note: This section of PSY 105 has been selected to participate in the campus-wide General Education Assessment process for Spring 2010. This assignment for this course has been chosen for this purpose. This assignment will be graded by me as explained above (i.e., it will count towards 4% of your final grade). However, the separate scoring of the assignment for the purposes of General Education assessment WILL NOT affect your grade in the course, or any other course work at UNCW. It will, however, help the university to identify potential ways to improve student learning in general.  For the General Education assessment, your name will be removed from your work, so your confidentially will be maintained during the scoring and tabulation processes.